Fire starts in storage room, smoke spreads to clothing store

Investigators are looking into an overnight fire that caused hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage Wednesday night.

The Baton Rouge Fire Department reported a storage room on 3rd Street in downtown Baton Rouge caught fire around 10:30 p.m. and firefighters said it took them until just after 1 a.m. to get the fire under control. No injuries were reported.

The storage room where the fire started is attached to the back of Bates and Thigpen, a high-end men's clothing store. Fire officials said the store does not own the storage room. They added it was being used as a maintenance room.

According to BRFD, workers at City Bar, which is next to the clothing store, were the first to see the fire. Officials added firefighters were able to keep the flames contained to the storage room and the attic above it.

The fire forced the temporary closures of 3rd and Lafayette streets to allow equipment to get to the scene.

Authorities said the owners of Bates and Thigpen estimate the smoke damage to their inventory to be about $75,000. They added the owners of the maintenance room estimated their damages at about $10,000. Fire officials reported the fire caused a total of about $325,000 in damages.